Come the next election, it’s a fair bet that Scott Morrison will use the pandemic as the reason he and his Coalition partner have been unable to deliver on anything or appropriately act on many unfinished reports, too numerous to mention. Such as how much the Prime Minister knew about Brittany Higgins’ rape allegations. Too busy on COVID will be the shrill word of the next campaign.
However, the Prime Minister and his government haven’t been too busy to play war games with the good old USA. In typical Coalition fashion, they have ditched an agreement with France to build submarines for our defence while at the same time destroying our international trust and reputation on matters of security. We have now dudded both Japan and France. Shameful on many levels.
It seems we have been leading France on for some time by disclosing nothing – the cost is around $2 billion dollars plus. They know how to waste a dollar or two, this mob.
The Prime Minister made his announcement with the usual scarcity of information. No detail, no costings. Not even some twaddle in the fine print to haggle over. It was all impressively incompetent diplomacy.
The decision’s intent is for Australia to plug a hole in America’s defence of the Pacific forty years down the track. And with nuclear technology supplied by the US and England.
We have to ask ourselves why we need to be in the pocket of the Yanks all the time when they don’t give us any guarantee or protection. They will always do what is in the best interests of America. And all we do is insult China, pretending we are a wholly-owned subsidiary of the US and the UK when it comes to military matters.
Then, after insulting our largest trading partner to the point of burying the word diplomacy, we pronounce them an existential threat?
Global warming is also an existential threat that requires global action, so why isn’t the Coalition spending with equal enthusiasm on this pending disaster.
As Katherine Murphy wrote in last Saturday’s edition of The Guardian.
” … a problem just as visible as the militarisation of the South China Sea – Australia can promise nothing unless Barnaby Joyce gets a spreadsheet identifying the precise costs of the transition for the average worker in Muswellbrook, and graciously grants his permission?
I mean, seriously. What a crock.”
All this is for a nation that seems to be perpetually at war with someone and who perceives China to be a threat to everyone’s security at the same time as climate change is readying itself for an event worse than war. An event that will require us to save ourselves from the emerging fires, drawn-out droughts, famines, conflicts over water and a refugee problem ten times worse than the one we have now.
I wish our government were as smart on these matters as they pretend to be at beating the drums of war.
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The peoples of all the world nations increasingly seem to be having less to say about their destiny.
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So, in forty years, we will have built some nuclear-powered submarines to be used against China at a time when we will all be fighting to save the planet from overheating.
I hope I don’t sound flippant, but it doesn’t make much sense to me. I have always thought that men have never really grown up. Oh, and it is said that the subs will become obsolete when we have finished fighting.
I don’t know about you, but I think the Prime Minister is just trying to frighten people. At least those who will be alive in 40 years.
I asked my Facebook friend John Amadio, who is generally on top of these matters, just what he thought. He answered:
“Unless, of course, it’s a play to the domestic political scene to divert attention away from Morrison and paint another ‘boogie man’ such as terrorism or asylum seekers.
Maybe it’s to instil some good old fear into the general public so that the government can project and ‘look strong’ on protecting Australia.
And, of course, wedge the ALP into a corner. I think it is a shameless political stunt to hang onto power but also potentially a dangerous one. It’s not a significant step from being nuclear powered to nuclear-armed.”
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History is just an ongoing commentary on the incompetence of men.
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In my state of insinuation, some things become abundantly clear to me:
- That we have pissed off China.
- That we have angered the French.
- That we have wasted a few billion dollars of taxpayers money.
- We have now dudded both Japan and France who has withdrawn its ambassador.
- Paul Keating was so upset he couldn’t tell the time on one of his French clocks.
- And the Greens were nonplussed.
- ANU strategic policy expert Hugh White and independent senator/former Navy submariner has called it a “new Cold War.”
- Rex Patrick raised questions that should have occurred to Morrison.
- News Corp commentators had little hesitation in describing the decision as a “historic defence of democracy.” One that will be well regarded by history.
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Never bullshit to an older man with a good memory.
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We may very well now face a khaki election where the focus is on who has the best security policy to protect the people from external threats, real or perceived.
Three certainties arise from this poorly thought-through decision.
The first is that the Coalition will dust off all their very best scare campaigns and attack Labor like the crazed do-nothing party they are.
The second is that it will see over 40 years many changes, reviews, and updates because it is so poorly thought through. And as is the reality in builds of this nature, you can add another ten years onto the completion date. And of course, the time lost already. What a stuff up.
Thirdly, trust in Australia will be significantly diminished as a global citizen.
And, of course, the language of diplomacy will have been lost.
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My thought for the day
Will we ever grow intellectually to the point where we can discern, understand and act on those matters that seek the good within us?
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